Solar blessing St. Thomas Lutheran Church, Bloomington, Ind., has a long his-
tory of caring for creation. In May the congregation went one step further by dedicating solar panels. “Holy God, may this sim- ple act of harnessing your eternal light help us escape the global heating that our generation is causing your creation …,” Lyle McKee, pastor, said as part of his blessing. St. Thomas was one of six congregations receiving a $25,000 energy grant to install a solar array. The rest of the $60,000 project came from the con- gregation and a loan. The array is expected to generate at least two-thirds of the church’s electricity for the next 25 to 40 years.
explore options for turning it into an outreach to the community—from growing vegetables for a pantry to offering plots to residents who don’t have ground for a garden. Small actions done by many people over a period of time not only have an impact on the environ- ment, they also help change the way we think. Brain science tells us that we don’t think our way into acting; rather, we act our way into thinking. As we embrace the need to change thought and behavior, our congrega- tions become communities of hope. Hope stands in the face of so many
large and insoluble problems in our world. Hope recognizes that the ulti- mate resolutions of our large, intrac- table challenges are in God’s hands, not ours. Because we know what God is like, we can be hopeful that col- lectively we will grow in our ability to live in a way that recognizes and affirms our interconnectedness. If the tide of global climate change is going to be turned, everyone has a role to play. The role of the church and of each member is pretty spe- cific. It’s time to adopt a worldview that counters the ascendancy of the individual and recognizes that in this good world that God created, and is still creating, there is a deep intercon- nectedness, “a snuggle of existence.” “The abundant life is not getting more and more stuff,” McFague said. “The abundant life is centered in self- giving love. We have to start living from that model.”
Caring for Creation:
Vision, Hope and Justice W
By Roger A. Willer
hy should you and I care about the earth? Most people would probably answer:
“Well, because human society will suffer if we don’t” or “Because we owe it to our children and grandchil- dren to leave them a healthy planet.” The ELCA social statement on the environment, “Caring for Creation: Vision, Hope, and Justice,” gives a different, bigger and perhaps surpris- ing answer. It tells us that we should care about the rest of creation because that is our job—this is why God cre- ates us. It also insists that the Bible tells us that caring for creation is a matter of justice and a deeply spiri- tual matter.
The social statement is like that—clear, pithy and constructively challenging. Take the time to read it for yourself, bearing in mind recent situations reported in the news. This statement is shorter than many, easy to read, and contains lots to make a Christian reflect in fresh ways about the environment and our spe- cial responsibility to it. While the statement was adopted by the 1993 Churchwide Assembly, it remains
timely and relevant today.
“Caring for Creation” relies upon a biblical vision of wholeness for creation. It depends upon a Christian understanding of the human role to serve in creation, and a hope rooted in God’s faithfulness. It leaves no ques- tion: God is at work seeking whole- ness and justice for the creation, and God calls us to be hands in this work. The statement speaks to each of us since individually and collectively we all can contribute to this work. Each of us was made to be a caretaker of creation.
As people of the ELCA we have answered the call to care for creation in certain respects, but we should not be surprised that this powerful state- ment calls the whole church to reded- icate itself today as “captives of hope, and vehicles of God’s promise.” This ELCA social statement and accompanying study guide are avail- able for free download at www.elca. org/socialstatements. You can order a free printed copy online at that address or by calling 800-638-3522, ext. 2580.
Willer is director for theological ethics in the ELCA Office of the Presiding Bishop. A longer version of this article first appeared in the November 2010 issue of Lutheran Woman Today (now called Gather).
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